The 1941 NYU Violets football team was an American football team that represented New York University as an independent during the 1941 college football season. In their 68th season of intercollegiate football, and their eighth and final season under head coach Mal Stevens, the Violets compiled a 2–7 record and were outscored by a total of 243 to 47. Prior to the season, Stevens called the team "the best conditioned squad in years."The Violets began the season with two wins, then lost the final seven games, including shutout losses against Syracuse, Penn State, Big 6 champion Missouri, and Tulane, and fell by a 49–7 score to a Texas A&M team that won the Southwest Conference championship.
NYU was ranked at No. 126 (out of 681 teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score System for 1941.
The team played its home games at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan, and Ohio Field and Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.
Schedule
Program discontinuation
Despite having the largest enrollment of any university in the United States, the NYU football program lost $30,000 in 1940 and $35,000 in 1941 and was described as "verging on bankruptcy." In January 1942, the university announced that its Committee on Athletics and Health would study the matter and issue a report on whether the football program should be discontinued. In late February 1942, NYU announced that it was discontinuing the football program for "economical reasons". NYU president Harry Woodburn Chase stated: "Varsity football at New York University has been carried on for the past two years at a subsantial deficit and the University cannot maintain the sport any further under the uncertain conditions that prevail." The university also terminated its relationship with head coach Mal Stevens. NYU later restored the football progam in 1944.
Players
References
